contracting word “enormous”

[Susan Baker]

Hi there!
According to the Problem word section in the 2009 Literary Braille manual, the "en" in enormous is not used. It doesn't appear to be overlapping prefix/baseword. Is it to avoid difficult in pronunciation?
Thanks,
Susan

[Anonymous]

What a wonderful question. I just always accepted that it was what it was. Honestly the en and ed contractions at the beginnings of words were always difficult for me to understand, so I just memorized them and stopped attempting to make logic out of it. But since you asked, I did a little research and found something on merriam-webster.com that might answer your question. The origin of enormous: Latin enormis, from e, ex (meaning: out of) + norma (meaning rule). So perhaps e is a prefix after-all. And that is the best I have for you, I hope it helps.

[Susan Baker]

Thanks!! That does help.
Susan

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